Chow mix Chow mix Chow mix

[yayarea]

Trying to start a thread to keep all the chow mix info in one easy to find place!!! (someone remind me if there is already such a place)

Ratios: hydroton/coco

Watering: how often, how long, drip system, hand water

Pot types: plastic pots, smart pots, how many gallons etc.

Nutrients: 1 part, 2 part, 3 part, teas, additives, ph, ppm

 

[yayarea]

After 4+ years of growing in coco in the beginning, and another 4yrs in hydroton, rockwool cubes, ebb&grow buckets, MPB's, bulk rockwool pots, im back to coco with the only headache of rinsing the shit out of it. My current situation is a vertical perpetual tree grow.

VEG ROOM: 11x11 room. 1000watt Horti Blue on a mover, over 2 4x4 tables. I pre veg in here for about a month 1gal to 5gal. I also keep my moms and clones in here just off to the side.

FLOWER ROOM 1: 12x12 room. 4 1000's, cool tubes. 5 girls in 20 gallon tubs.

FLOWER ROOM 2: 14x15 room. 5 1000's, cool tubes. 4 girls in 20 gallon tubs.

Ratio: 50/50 chow mix
Watering: drip system hydro halos ( trying to figure out watering times )
Pots: 2 20 gallon tubs rope handles for each, top tub with a shit ton of holes in it, bottom just one big hole for drainage.
Nutrients: Dutch Master Gold veg and flower, calmag, protekt, CAPS tea.

I will get some pics up later, any suggestions would be great.

 

[dankworth]

Follow my links for food from salts.
I post lots of info and insights into chow and fertilizer, what and why, but not all in one place. Spread out over lots of posts. But the fert gig is condensed.
It is all there, I built on the work of the big kids here before me at this site.
Consider overhead 1ks @ 90-100 watts/ft2 with vert 6s hung low in the canopy.
Better oz/ft2 that way, no lights up in your face.
Did vert.
Will be continuing to optimize until I get 20+ out of my 11x14 room.
Then 25.
Maybe 30 when I am running 10k overhead and 6 vert 6s hung in the canopy.

Then I will be king!

Oh yeah.

+

 

[yayarea]

+

What size aeration are you running? Are you cutting a hole in that lid and dropping the pot in and using the tub for drainage, or filling the tub wit chow mix also?

 

[dankworth]

Couple 3 gals this time round. Yes to the hole cutting. Tub holds some water at the bottom. Not filling rest of tub with media. Going to blow some air in the bottom water and laugh my ass off.
If you put the drain on the bottom facing down, the roots will aggressively attempt to follow that channel, leading to additional unintended maintenance requirements.
So don't do that.

Bout 10" holes for the 3 gal frames.

 

[kushtrees]

76/24 hydroton/ coco in 20g smart pots DTW no hempy res

Watered 3-7 times a day 20-45 secOnd drips depending on how rooted the plants are always aiming for 10-20% run off

Feed, feed, RO, feed, feed, ACT

5k vert 4 plants per room, constantly 1.5+ per plant, I get Over 2 on my deadhead

Next go I'm mono cropping, all deadhead OG, 2 rooms, 8 plants, goal is 3 a plant I think it's doable

 

[bakershredhead]

Yo Kush that's pretty much my set up at the moment. Debating trying out Dankworths style with my old mpb's but with just one 7gl pot in each of the tote's. What is ACT? Is that a tea?

 

[dankworth]

Yo Kush that's pretty much my set up at the moment. Debating trying out Dankworths style with my old mpb's but with just one 7gl pot in each of the tote's. What is ACT? Is that a tea?

Aerated/activated compost tea, check out info for that in Nutrients, under Cap's bennies. He kicks down with some good tea info.
Teas, when done right, will give an extra qp a light.

 

[bakershredhead]

Dank's got my mind spinning. Thinking about switching a few of the vert bulbs. I'm currently running 11kw for 10 plant sites in a DD's MPBs X pattern. I could go with 8kw hung horizontal with another 8 600's hung in the canopy or a variation. I have a 10 light flip box that I could put the 600's on or the 1000's for that matter. Only have the cooling for about 11kw though. I'll have to put a few different styles of bulb hanging down on paper to see what it would look like. My room's a 10x24. Do you guys think I would really benefit from even switching from total vertical to a mix of both?

 

[bakershredhead]

Ya Dank I've read Cap's thread gonna give it a go this next round in a few weeks. You've got me thinking in changing it up a bit with the chow mix/mpb tote idea. Was going to just to the 20gl smartpots again but I would be using a lot less medium with the style you've got. Plus it something that is somewhat familiar since I used to run Krusty buckets.

 

[St3ve]

I use 50/50 with perlite, does that count? :D

 

[kushtrees]

I remember JK posting somewhere that he did a side by side with I think it was 10g vs 20g pots with chow and the 20g pots were less stressed, though with a SWC aspect Im sure that will work great. Ive been considering danks set up but im convinced I can do better wth my current one so Im working on that till Im satisfied

That JK post is in deacons coco trees thread, I knew I saw it here somewhere

and yes ACT are the shit one of the best addtions anyone can make

 

[Resinable]

Bakershredhead:

What kind of yield are you getting with your current configuration? It seem to me your room is too narrow and does not have enough lights to make untrained trees work optimally. Untrained trees work best in large square rooms with many lights, this way you get as many lights as possible surrounded by plants and vice versa. I think a better configuration for your room, with your present lighting and cooling, would be a stadium scrog (you could still do large plants but screen them) with 11 bare bulbs down the middle of the room. Better yet up your cooling capacity and do 12 to 13 1ks down the middle and 15 six hundreds (30 total) on each side in vented hoods. I think the latter configuration could get you 45 and the former 22+.

 

[kushtrees]

I wouldnt say his room is too skinny at all my rooms are 10x10 and yes plants hit the walls but they are lit on 3 sides all day and I dont waste much space.

Instead of flip flopping why not do 1000w in the middle and 600w against the walls. Then with the freed up wattage add some over head. I wouldnt do overhead and vert unless you have the ceiling height for it tho, like 10+ feet. Its probably better to do just vert than to have overhead lights that are too close and stressing the plants out.

 

[Resinable]

St3ve Farmer

New I use 50/50 with perlite, does that count?

I have used 70% perlite 30% coco which works great, but I think chow might be even more aerated and closer to DWC but without the headaches. I have noticed that when mixing 70% perlite 30% coco the end results still looks like it is still mostly coco and I ended up watering my 10 to 20 gallon smart pots only once or twice per day (heavy waterings tho)

Incidentally I wonder how chow hempys with a perlite bottom would perform?

Also, I like those ez root pots but last i looked I did not see them in larger sizes. Also it would be a good idea to line them with a fabric pot to keep things clean. I have not used them yet be I've read that square root brand pots allow for easier root growth thru the fabric.

 

[Resinable]

I wouldnt say his room is too skinny at all my rooms are 10x10 and yes plants hit the walls but they are lit on 3 sides all day and I dont waste much space.

How many watts and what kind of yield in your 10 by 10?

The plants may be lit on all three sides but the lights on the walls are not surround by plants; that is my point in a bigger more square room you would have more of both. It works but is just not the best use of that space imo.

 

[kushtrees]

5k in the X pattern per room, 2 rooms 8 plants
I get 1.5-2.3 a plant depending on strain. My deadheads last time were about 2.1 and 2.3 last time, my Whites were around 1.7-1.9, my Rom x grapefruits were 1.9 and 2.0.

I agree that the light isnt as effective but the bulbs are very close to the corners of the room and my rooms are all covered in panda film so I get pretty good reflectivity.

large plants with only 1 light source, unless lollypopped and trained well, produce a lot of larfy nugs, thats why I went with trees with lots of light, personally I would like to do light on all sides but I dont have the room and I usually train/ trim the back branches to avoid larf. I cant stand larf

Vert scrog, like capulator's walls, would work amazingly well so im not saying it was a bad idea, just that the current set up isnt bad given his space. plus stadiums do more of a middle size plant, def not a tree, so you need more plants which gets into what your plant limit is and all.

 

[bakershredhead]

Ya I here both of your arguments. It does need to be wider but at the moment that's what I have to work with. I'm probably not going to change the room as after this run I'm probably going to convert it to my veg chamber and build two new rooms out in the other part of the shop. I'll probably stick with the 1kw in the X pattern. Two plants do get hit with 4kw and the rest with 3kw. An extra four to six feet would be great but not gonna happen. I'm just trying to decide if I should go with the chow in 20gl again or try the 7gl ez root in a tote. I think I'll do one or two that way and the rest in the 20gl and just compare. If the 7gl chow works than I'll switch next run. I believe it should as I used to get 1.5 -2 in a 5gl bucket of Hydroton stacked in another 5gl with air at the bottom(swc)

 

[Resinable]

New

5k in the X pattern per room, 2 rooms 8 plants
I get 1.5-2.3 a plant depending on strain. My deadheads last time were about 2.1 and 2.3 last time, my Whites were around 1.7-1.9, my Rom x grapefruits were 1.9 and 2.0.

I agree that the light isnt as effective but the bulbs are very close to the corners of the room and my rooms are all covered in panda film so I get pretty good reflectivity.

large plants with only 1 light source, unless lollypopped and trained well, produce a lot of larfy nugs, thats why I went with trees with lots of light, personally I would like to do light on all sides but I dont have the room and I usually train/ trim the back branches to avoid larf. I cant stand larf

Vert scrog, like capulator's walls, would work amazingly well so im not saying it was a bad idea, just that the current set up isnt bad given his space. plus stadiums do more of a middle size plant, def not a tree, so you need more plants which gets into what your plant limit is and all.​

I was suggesting very large plants trained into stadium like horizontal screens; speaking from experience it works very well no larf; I've done any where from four to less than one plant per 1000 watts of light this way; hit as much as 2.2 per plant with eight plants in one hundred sq. feet. Compare that to four plants at about 2.3 per in 100 sq ft; 18 units to 9.2. You may have cooling or electrical limitations that compel you to run only 5k in a ten by ten though?

 

[obsoul33t]

has anyone substituted hydroton with lava rock in the chow mix